This is not a date
by Hellenistic
Summary: My first Makorra one shot. Mako takes Korra out to the Republic City Festival: an annual event celebrated on the day the city was founded. Everyone thinks it's a date- everyone except Mako. But when he sees the way Korra looks under the city lights, will he eventually give in?


_This is not a date._ Mako told himself as he prepared himself for the night ahead of him. He was just taking Korra to the Republic City Annual Festival. Bolin would have done it, but he'd already asked one of his many fangirls. So as a _friend_, Mako offered to take Korra. _It's just a nice gesture. Korra's never been to a festival before, you're expanding her horizons. _After making sure that his hair was just the right amount of spiky, Mako sighed and reasoned that he was as ready as he'd ever be. Finally, he left the pro-bending arena and began to walk towards Air Temple Island.

Mako got to the ferry doc a few minutes early and, understandably, Korra was not yet there to meet him. Mako simply tucked his hands into his pockets and whistled a few tunes while waiting for Korra to come. He eventually ran out of tunes to whistle, but Korra still wasn't here. The boatman informed that he would be leaving in 5 minutes to go to the festival. Mako decided that he had waited long enough and pulled out some spare change. "Could you take me to Air Temple Island before you go? I need to pick someone up." He asked while quickly counting that he had the right amount of money for the trip. The man nodded and Mako placed the money into the boatman's hands.

"Alright lad, get on." The boatman said as he examined the coins Mako gave him.

Mako said his thanks and quickly got into the boat. As the boat slowly moved towards the island, Mako examined his surroundings. He'd only been to Air Temple Island once before, to go see Korra, but he'd never paid any attention to the scenery. He had been able to see it from his window back in his room, but that view was so far away. From where he was standing, Mako could see Avatar Aang's statue up close. He was actually awed by the great stone structure. Mako had heard a few things about the past avatar, but he didn't know much. From what he knew, Avatar Aang was a much different person than Korra. Korra was much feistier than Aang had supposedly been. Aang was great in his time, and in Mako's opinion, Korra was shaping up to be pretty great, too.

"Hey, kid! Are you going to get your date or what? I have a festival to get to!" The boatman's rough voice snapped Mako out of his thoughts.

"She's not my date. Sorry though, I didn't realize we stopped." Mako replied before scurrying off the boat. Once he stepped onto the shore, he walked to where Korra usually trained for air bending, as that was the only place he knew how to get to. As soon as he got there, he found Jinora and Ikki meditating. The girls opened their eyes when they heard Mako's footsteps nearing.

"Hi" he said awkwardly "I'm sorry, I didn't know you were busy."

"It's fine. We were just finishing." Jinora assured.

"Hi, Mako! What are you doing here? Did you come to see Korra?" Ikki wondered curiously.

"Yes, I am here for Korra. Is she around?"

"Are you going on a date with her?" Ikki blurted out.

"It's not a date. I'm just taking her to the festival." Mako responded quickly.

Before Ikki had a chance to say something else, Jinora interjected, "Ikki, please go get Korra and tell her Mako is here to see her." Ikki looked sorely upset that she was not able to add her comment, and reluctantly set off to find Korra.

In that moment, Mako was extremely grateful for Jinora. He still was not used to Ikki's chatty nature, much less her extremely personal questions. He was thinking about thanking Jinora, when they both seemed to hear running coming towards them. Mako turned to see Korra running while trying to put her shoes on.

"I'm late, I'm so LATE!" Korra was muttering. With a jacket in her hand, she was having a lot of difficulty running while putting shoes on, in fact, she was practically tripping. On top of that, her hair, which was down, kept falling onto her face. She couldn't really see, so she didn't even notice Mako just standing there, watching her. Luckily, Korra was able to notice his presence before she ran straight into him. "Mako? Wha- What are you doing here? I was going to meet you-"

"Well, you took some time, and the boat guy was going to leave soon, so I figured I'd just come."

"You figured you'd just come? You didn't have to- I'm sorry- I'll pay you the money back." Korra stammered.

"No, you don't have to. But we'd better hurry, the guy's getting ready to leave and go to the festival too." Mako suggested.

"Wait before you leave, Korra your hair is a mess." Jinora blew a short wind at Korra, sending her hair back. It didn't actually look better, but at least it was out of her face. Korra grumbled a sarcastic thank you and turned to leave. "Have fun on your date." Jinora whispered to Mako.

"It's not a date!" Mako whispered back irritably and ran after Korra. When he caught up to her, he decided it would be nice to start a conversation to avoid the awkward situation Jinora had put him in. "Your hair's down." He noticed.

"Yeah, it is. I didn't have any time to do it. I over slept." Korra admitted. "I'm really sorry about being so late. After our long practice, I had a double long air bending session. I was so tired. I thought I could take a quick nap, but I thought wrong. I'll pay you back for the boat ride."

"You really don't have to. It's not a big deal." Mako insisted.

Luckily, the boatman and the ferry were still there when Mako and Korra reached the docs. Mako reached in his pockets to pull out his money, but Korra already had her money in her hands.

"Take us back across please, here's money for the both of us." She said

"No, Korra, I'll pay." Mako tried to hand his own money to the boat man, but Korra slapped his hand away.

"No, you already paid for your way here. I'm paying for both of us." She insisted

"Korra at least let me pay my own way."

"No." Korra defiantly handed the boatman the money and pulled Mako onto the boat. Clearly, Mako could not argue.

The boat ride was spent mostly in silence because one was mentally berating the other about being so stubborn. When the boat finally reached the shore the pair thanked the boatman and told him to enjoy the festival. Right before they got off, the boatman grabbed Mako's arm and said, "Ye better take care of your date lad, she can't be paying everything for ye. Step up if ye want another chance with her."

Mako angrily shrugged the man off. "First of all, I told you it's not a date. Second, I tried to pay, she wouldn't listen."

"And thirdly," Korra interjected, showing that she heard the boatman. "So what if I pay for him? Just because I'm a girl and the Avatar doesn't mean I can't handle myself. Now, step off if you know what's good for you. Enjoy the festival. Come on, Mako."

With that, they marched off, leaving the boatman completely stunned. Once Mako and Korra were out of earshot, they burst out laughing. "What an idiot." Korra commented. "Anyway, where did Bolin say he'd meet up with us?"

"He didn't." Mako realized he never set up a place where he would find Bolin and his date.

"Well, that's okay, how hard can he be to find?" Korra said enthusiastically.

"Very hard. But, we'll give it a shot. My first guess is any food stands. Let's go." Mako and Korra began to search for Bolin and his date. When they couldn't find him at food carts, they moved to trinket stands. Naturally, Bolin was expected to go all out on his date in an attempt to impress her. However, they couldn't find Bolin, and Mako started to get impatient.

"Hey, don't worry. We can meet up with them later!" Korra suggested. "Why don't we walk around and hope we bump into them? I'm starting to get hungry."

"Sure, that's cool. I'm hungry too, what do you want to eat?" Mako mentally kicked himself for getting so sidetracked. He didn't come to the festival to find Bolin, he came to show Korra a good time. He can't just let Korra spend her first festival searching for his little brother.

"I don't know, I'm still not used to the food here. What's good?"

"There's this one stand on the opposite side of here, its got the best food Bolin and I've ever had. It's out favorite. You up for some walking?"

"I'm the Avatar. I'm up for anything." She joked. Really, Korra thought walking would be a good thing. Then she can look around and fully take in the look of Republic City at night.

They took the "scenic route" to the food stand. Mako wanted Korra to fully experience the festival, and Korra would stop at every stand whether he wanted to or not. Most of the time he didn't mind, her excitement was funny, and kind of cute. Mako wouldn't admit the last part to anyone, not even himself, but somewhere deep down he knew it was pretty cute. Korra was frequently asking questions about everything she came upon, so much that Mako thought she sounded a bit like Ikki.

"They didn't talk much about Republic City back in the Southern Water Tribe?" Mako finally asked.

"No," Korra confessed, "I know the history of it, well only some. See my water bending teacher, Katara, was Avatar Aang's wife, so I'd ask her about it sometimes. But-" Korra hesitated.

"But what?"

"But I never liked pressing her too much. It's weird, asking my teacher about my past life that she was married to. She never seemed bothered by it, but I didn't want to make it hard on her."

"I understand. But if you say she never seemed to mind, maybe she liked talking about it to someone."

"You're probably right." Korra really regretted not asked Katara every possible thing about Aang himself. She thought about asking to read one of the journals about Aang's adventures when she got home.

"Woah, great Avatar Korra admits I'm right? We should put this in a paper." Mako laughed when Korra punched him in the arm. "Alright, listen. I don't know much either, but if you want to ask me anything, I'll try to give you an answer. Deal?"

"Deal! Now come on, I've got plenty more to see!" Korra took Mako's hand and dragged him to the next stand.

Korra looked so happy to be at this festival. She wanted to try everything, see everything, and try everything. Korra bought things for Tenzin and his family, and though Mako said that since they've been here they might already have it, Korra really didn't care. They stopped for a bunch of snacks before eventually getting to their initial destination. Mako and Korra were almost full, but they still sat down and ordered an entire meal. Korra let Mako order for her, and he promised that what she was going to get would be good. He said it was Bolin's favorite. Korra looked over at a table near them and saw a man had a really good looking drink. She had to try it.

"Waiter! Can I have one of whatever he's got?" she asked motioning to the other table.

"Korra! It's not good to have while in pro-bending training." Mako scolded.

"Relax Mr. Serious. It's just a glass, what harm could it be? It's a festival, let loose and has some fun!"

Mako simply rolled his eyes and let the girl do whatever she wanted. Korra ended up loving the drink, and tried to ask for another, but Mako refused to let her. She would have been more stubborn, but their food arrived, so Korra gave up and dug in.

"Mako, this is amazing!" she exclaimed. Her mouth was almost entirely stuffed with food and she was attempting to fit in some more.

Mako chuckled and the sight, content that she liked it. "I thought you would. Do you want to try some of mine?" he offered up his fork with some of his meal.

Korra gulped down her mouthful and nodded excitedly. She took a bit and immediately said, "So good!"

It turns out they weren't able to finish any of their meals. The snacks they ate on the way there had pretty much filled their stomachs, and before they knew it , Korra and Mako were full. Each took a box of their leftovers to go, and departed. Korra stumbled a little bit when she got up, so she took Mako's arm to steady herself.

"Told you not to drink it." He said.

"I'm fine." She said briskly. She really was. Korra needed just a little support, but that was it. She put her coat on and took Mako's arm again. "Where to next?"

"Well I wanted to show you the lantern ceremony. Have you heard of it?"

"Have I heard of it? Have I heard of it? Of course I've heard of it! When they first opened Republic City, Avatar Aang and Firelord Zuko were so proud and happy had lanterns released to celebrate. Now every year, on the day that marks the opening of the city, lanterns are released into the sky. I've always wanted to see them! Let's go!" Korra urged Mako to hurry up and take her.

"Do you know the legend behind the lanterns?" Mako asked as they strolled through the streets.

"No, what is it?" she asked curiously.

"At one of the ceremonies Avatar Aang and Firelord Zuko had their wives there-"

"Katara and Mai!" Korra interrupted excitedly. Katara had told her about Mai and Zuko, Korra loved hearing stories about them, almost as much as she liked hearing about Katara and Aang.

"Yes, Katara and Mai." Mako continued, "Well the legend is that when the lanterns were released, both Firelord Zuko and Avatar Aang looked at their wives, and at the same time, both Mai and Katara kissed their husbands. Those who were there had said it was one of the nicest things they've ever seen. So now the lanterns are this big thing for couples."

"That's sweet." Korra commented, thinking of how lovely it would have been to actually see that happening.

"Look they're starting!" Mako exclaimed. Every year he saw the lanterns, but every year he was amazed by them. They never failed to take his breath away.

Korra gasped when she saw them. "This is beautiful." She whispered, as if talking too loud would disturb some sort of balance. They were so many different colors, all lit by the firebenders and set off into the sky. The lanterns colored the dark sky until it was so bright that if all the lights were turned off, the lanterns would still illuminate the city. The paper lights drifted off so peacefully into the sky. Suddenly she thought of Mai, Zuko, Aang, and Katara and she thought that they were the only thing that could ever make this view any better than it already was. "Mako?" she said, still looking up at the sky, "Have you ever kissed anyone?"

"No" Mako answered truthfully. "I spent most of my time looking after my brother, and then the rest of it goes to pro-bending. I've never had much time for girls. Priorities, you know?"

Korra nodded in understanding. Mako never told her much of his past, but he did tell her that he took a lot of early responsibility with Bolin. Korra really admired him for that. In her opinion, it was something even greater than his abilities in the arena.

"What about you?" Mako asked her.

"No." Korra shook her head sadly. "Ever since I was a little girl, I've been learning bending. I dedicated my life to learning and mastering the elements. I never had time for boys. I never had much time for friends at all. Priorities, you know? Either way, the only guys I've met are grumpy White Lotus Sentries."

"I guess we both had a lot of things to be responsible for, huh?" Mako said with a light tone.

"Yeah, no kidding… Mako, thank you so much for taking me here. This has been the most fun that I've ever had. The festival was so much more than I ever dreamed it would be. These lanterns are truly amazing. I've never seen anything so gorgeous." Korra looked up at Mako, thanking him a thousand more times, in her head of course, for one of the best nights of her life.

"You're welcome, Korra." Mako looked down and at her and smiled. Then he did what he never thought he would do- he kissed her. Even more shocking was that after a moment, Korra kissed him back. Maybe, Mako understood why couples loved these lanterns and the legend behind it. As he cupped Korra's face in his hand, maybe he got why it was so special.

_This was still not a date._


End file.
